Typical of me, I, just before the registration deadline, signed up for The Nutcracker Endurance Run, a long-standing timed event taking place in Erwin, North Carolina, for the last time on December 14, 2024. Albeit tempted to join the 12 hours, having run an ultra just a month prior and scheduled to serve at church that requires much moving the following morning, I stuck to the 6 hours.

Conservatively, I aimed for 29 miles and posited anything beyond to be a stretch, until from the outset I felt my body fire on all cylinders, to the point I hardly allowed myself any walking breaks for the first couple of 10-mile loops and recorded the first marathon distance well under 5 hours, which I almost never let myself do in an ultra. With 2 hours and 30 minutes to go, the participants had the option to opt for a one-mile loop, which I chose, in case finishing another 10-mile lap within the time limit could be a stretch; in hindsight, another round in the original loop could have been psychologically less draining. Unsurprisingly, having run-run so much more than I typically do in an ultra, combined with the temperature in the 30s, with about an hour and a half to go, my left knee tensed up that trying to run on it became a nuisance, but I ignored the pain and pushed to make the most of this unique opportunity to shatter my expectations. Traditionally, the race director seems to have permitted up to nine shorter loops per runner, and when I said I would stop at 29 miles if doing more is “against the rules,” he and the timekeeper said, “Do as you do.” I added that I doubted I could do a tenth anyway due to the knee issue, to which the race director encouraged me not to verbally express it and have it manifest. I continued to ask God what I should do while doing math in my head. Upon the completion of 29 miles, I saw I had just over 20 minutes left and told myself I could even walk a mile in that time. I received the race director’s confirmation one more time to be certain he was okay with my attempt at a tenth short loop, after which I ran as much as I could hilariously hobbling, interestingly still one of my fastest latter miles, and returned with nearly ten minutes to spare, officially logging in 30 miles while my COROS reads 30.23. Had I kept moving for a little longer, this would have easily been my second-fastest 50K by far, which I did not expect based on my recent performances, not to mention I did not feel even remotely nauseous, often the case for hours after a race like this. All thanks and glory to God, with Whom I spoke ceaselessly throughout and without Whom none of this is possible.